USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 25
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243
THE BATTLE BEGINS.
of the Shastas, who had been sent to warn him. Though the agent was aware that this man could point out the murderers, he would not consent, lest it should be a signal for battle.
By the time Steele had recrossed the river, a fresh commotion arose over the rumor that Scarface was seen with two others going over the hills toward the Klamath. The Rogue River warriors, still on the south side, observing it, began posting themselves under cover of some trees, as if preparing for a skir- mish, to prevent which Steele's men placed them- selves in a position to intercept them, when an encounter appearing imminent, Martin Angell,17 a settler, proposed to the Indians to give up their arms, and sheltering themselves in a log house in the vicinity, to remain there as hostages until the criminals should be brought back by their own peo- ple. The proposition was accepted; but when they had filed past Steele's party they made a dash to gain the woods. This was the critical moment. To allow the savages to gain cover would be to expose the white men to a fire they could not return; there- fore the order was given, and firing set in on both sides.
It should not be forgotten that Steele's men from the California side of the Siskiyou, throughout the whole affair, had done all that was done to precipitate the conflict, which was nevertheless probably una- voidable in the agitated state of both Indians and white men. The savages were well armed and ready for war, and the miners and settlers were bent on the mastery. When the firing began, Lamerick's com- pany were still at the fords, some distance from the others. At the sound of the guns he hastened up the valley to give protection to the settlers' families,
11 Angell had formerly resided at Oregon City. He removed to Rogue River Valley, participated in the Indian wars, and was killed by the savages of Rogue River in 1855. He was regarded as a good man and a useful citi- zen. His only son made his residence at Portland. Lane's Autobiography, MS., 107.
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PLAUSIBLE PACIFICATION.
leaving a minority of the volunteers to engage the Indians from the north side should they attempt to cross the river.18
The fighting lasted but a short time. The Indians made a charge with the design of releasing Steele's prisoners, when they ran toward the river. One was shot before he reached it, the other as he came out of the water on the opposite bank. Sam then ordered a party of warriors to the south side to cut off Steele, but they were themselves surprised by a detachment of the volunteers, and several killed,19 the remainder re- treating. Only one white man was wounded, and he in one finger. The Indian agent had retired to his resi- dence at the beginning of the fight. That same night information was received that during the holding of the council some Indians had gone to a bar down the river, and had surprised and killed a small company of miners. Lamerick at once made preparations to cross the river on the night of the 19th of July, and take his position in the pass between Table Rock and the river, while Steele's company moved at the same time farther up, to turn the Indians back on Lamerick's force in the morning. The movement was successful. Sam's people were surrounded, and the chief sued for peace on the terms first offered, namely, that he should give up the murderers, asking that the agent be sent for to make a treaty.
But Skinner, who had found himself ignored as
18 ' Before we reached the place where the battle was going on, we met a large portion of the company coming from the battle as fast as their horses could run. The foremost man was Charley Johnson. He called to me to come with him. I said, "Have the Indians whipped you?" He said nothing, but kept on running, and crying, "Come this way." We wheeled, and went with the crowd, who went to the house of Dr Ambrose. The Indiaus had started toward the house, and it was supposed they meant to murder the family.' Cardwell's Emigrant Company, MS., 24.
19 Steele says sixteen, including the prisoners. Cardwell states that many sprang into the water and were shot. Skinner gives the number as four; and states further that 'a man by the name of Steel, who pretended to be the leader of the party from Shasta, was principally instrumental in causing the attack on the prisoners, which for a time produced general hostilities.' U. S. Sen. Dec., i., 32dl cong. 2d sess., vol. i. pt i. 457. Cardwell's Emigrant Com- pany, MS., 25; California Star, Aug. 7, 1852.
245
TRUCE AND REËNFORCEMENT.
maintainer of the peace, and was busy preparing for the defence of his house and property, was slow to respond to this request. A council was appointed for the next day. In the explanations which followed it was ascertained that Scarface had not been with Sam, but was hiding in the Salmon River mountains. The person pointed out as Scarface was Sullix of Tipso's band, who also had a face badly scarred. The real criminal was ultimately arrested, and hanged at Yreka. A treaty was agreed to by Sam requiring the Rogue River Indians to hold no communication with the Shastas. 20 For the remainder of the summer hostili- ties on Rogue River were suspended, the Indian agent occasionally presenting Sam's band with a fat ox, find- ing it easier and cheaper to purchase peace with beef than to let robberies go on, or to punish the robbers.21
Such was the condition of Indian affairs in the south of Oregon in the summer and autumn of 1852, when the superintendent received official notice that all the Indian treaties negotiated in Oregon had been ordered to lie upon the table in the senate; while he was instructed by the commissioner, until the general policy of the government should be more def- initely understood, to enter into no more treaty stip- ulations with them, except such as might be imperi- ously required to preserve peace.22 As if partially to avert the probable consequences to the people of Ore- gon of this rejection of the treaties entered into be- tween Governor Gaines, Superintendent Dart, and the Indians, there arrived at Vancouver, in September, 268 men, rank and file, composing the skeleton of the 4th regiment of infantry, under Lieutenant-colonel Bonneville.23 It was now too late in the season for
20 Sullix was badly wounded on the day of the battle. See Cardwell's Emigrant Company, MS., 25-6.
21 The expenses of Steele's expedition were $2,200, which were never reim- bursed from any source.
22 Letter of Anson Dart in Or. Statesman, Oct. 30, 1852. Dart resigned in December. his resignation to take effect the following June.
23 ' A large number of the 4th reg. had died on the Isthmus.' Or. States- man, Sept. 25, 1852.
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PLAUSIBLE PACIFICATION.
troops to do more than go into winter quarters. The settlers and the emigration had defended themselves for another year without aid from the government, and the comments afterward made upon their manner of doing it, in the opinion of the volunteers came with a very ill grace from the officers of that government.24
2ª Further details of this campaign are given in Lane's Autobiography, MS .; Cardwell's Emigrant Company, MS .; and the files of the Oregon Statesman.
C
CHAPTER IX.
SURVEYS AND TOWN-MAKING.
1851-1853.
PROPOSED TERRITORIAL DIVISION-COAST SURVEY-LIGHT-HOUSES ESTAB- LISHED-JAMES S. LAWSON-HIS BIOGRAPHY, PUBLIC SERVICES, AND CONTRIBUTION TO HISTORY-PROORESS NORTH OF THE COLUMBIA-SOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA-BIRTH OF TOWNS-CREATION OF COUNTIES-PROPOSED NEW TERRITORY-RIVER NAVIGATION-IMPROVEMENTS AT THE CLACK- AMAS RAPIDS-ON THE TUALATIN RIVER-LA CREOLE RIVER-BRIDGE- BUILDING-WORK AT THE FALLS OF THE WILLAMETTE-FRUIT CULTURE -THE FIRST APPLES SENT TO CALIFORNIA-AGRICULTURAL PROORESS- IMPORTS AND EXPORTS-SOCIETY.
A. MOVEMENT was made north of the Columbia River in the spring of 1851, to divide Oregon, all that portion north and west of the Columbia to be erected into a new territory, with a separate govern- ment-a scheme which met with little opposition from the legislature of Oregon or from congress. Accordingly in March 1853 the separation was con- summated. The reasons advanced were the alleged disadvantages to the Puget Sound region of unequal legislation, distance from the seat of government, and rivalry in commercial interests. North of the Columbia progress was slow from the beginning of American settlements in 1845 to 1850, when the Puget Sound region began to feel the effect of the California gold discoveries, with increased facilities for communication with the east. In answer to the oft-repeated prayers of the legislature of Oregon, that a survey might be made of the Pacific coast of the United States, a commission was appointed in
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SURVEYS AND TOWN-MAKING.
November 1848, whose business it was to make an ex- amination with reference to points of occupation for the security of trade and commerce, and for military and naval purposes.
The commissioners were Brevet Colonel J. L. Smith, Major Cornelius A. Ogden, Lieutenant Danville Lead- better of the engineer corps of the United States army, and commanders Louis M. Goldsborough, G. J. Van Brunt, and Lieutenant Simon F. Blunt of the navy. They sailed from San Francisco in the government steam propeller Massachusetts, officered by Samuel Knox, lieutenant commanding, Isaac N. Brieeland aet- ing lieutenant, and James H. Moore aeting master, arriving in Puget Sound about the same time the Ewing reached the Columbia River in the spring of 1850, and remaining in the sound until July. The commissioners reported in favor of light-houses at New Dungeness and Cape Flattery, or Tatooeh Island, informing the government that traffic had muel in- ereased in Oregon, and on the sound, it being their opinion that no spot on the globe offered equal facili- ties for the lumber trade.1 Shoalwater Bay was ex- amined by Lieutenant Leadbetter, who gave his name to the southern side of the entrance, which is called Leadbetter Point. The Massachusetts visited the Co- lumbia, and recommended Cape Disappointment on which to place a light-house. After this superficial reconnoissanee, which terminated in July, the commis- sioners returned to California.
The length of time elapsing from the sailing of the commission from New York to its arrival on the North- west Coast, with the complaints of the Oregon dele- gate, caused the secretary of the treasury to request Professor A. D. Bache, superintendent of coast sur- veys, to hasten operations in that quarter as much as possible; a request which led the latter to despatch a third party, in the spring of 1850, under Professor George Davidson, which arrived in California in June,
1 Coast Survey, 1850, 127.
249
DAVIDSON'S SURVEY.
and proceeded immediately to carry out the intentions of the government.2 Being employed on the coast of southern California, Davidson did not reach Oregon till June 1851, when he completed the topographical surveys of Cape Disappointment, Point Adams, and Sand Island, at the entrance to the Columbia, and de- parted southward, having time only to examine Port Orford harbor before the winter storms. It was not until July 1852 that a protracted and careful survey was begun by Davidson's party, when he returned in the steamer Active,3 Captain James Alden of the navy, to examine the shores of the Strait of Fuca and adja- cent coasts, a work in which he was engaged for sev- eral years, to his own credit and the advantage of the country.4 For many years Captain Lawson has di- rected his very valuable efforts to the region about Puget Sound.5
2 Davidson's party were all young men, anxious to distinguish themselves. They were A. M. Harrison, James S. Lawson, and John Rockwell. They sailed in the steamer Philadelphia, Capt. Robert Pearson, crossed the Isthmus, and took passage again on the Tennessee, Capt. Cole, for San Francisco. Law- son's Autobiography, MS., 5-18.
3 The Actire was the old steamer Gold Hunter rechristened. Lawson's Au- tobiography, MS., 49.
+ For biography, and further information concerning Prof. Davidson and his lahors, see Hist. Cal., this series.
5 Jamies S. Lawson was born in Philadelphia, Feb. 13, 1828, was educated in the schools of that city, and while in the Central high school was a class- mate of George Davidson, Prof. Bache being principal. Bache had formerly been president of Girard College, and still had charge of the magnetic obser- vatory in the college grounds. The night observers were selected from the pupils of the high school, and of these Lawson was one, continuing to serve till the closing of the observatory in 1845. Iu that year Lawson was ap- pointed second assistant teacher in the Catherine-street grammar school of Philadelphia, which position he held for one year, when he was offered a po- sition in the Friends' school at Wilmington, Delaware, under charge of Sam- uel Allsoff. In January 1848 Lawson commenced duty as a clerk to Prof. Bache, then superintendent of the U. S. coast survey, remaining in that ca- pacity until detached and ordered to join Davidson for the surveys on the Pacific coast in 1850. From the time of his arrival on the Pacific coast to the present, Capt. Lawson has been almost continuously engaged in the labor of making government surveys as an assistant of Prof. Davidson. Lawson's Autobiography, MS., 2. His work for a number of years has been chiefly in that portion of the original Oregon territory north of the Columbia and west of the Cascade Mountains, and his residence has been at Olympia, where his high character and scientific attainments have secured him the esteem of all, and in which quiet and beautiful little capital repose may be found from oc- casional toil and exposure. Mr Harrison was, like Davidson and Lawson, a graduate of the Philadelphia Central school, and of the same class.
This manuscript of Lawson's authorship is one of unusual value, contain-
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SURVEYS AND TOWN-MAKING.
I have referred to the surveying expeditions in this place with the design, not only of bringing them into their proper sequence in point of time, but to make plain as I proceed correlative portions of my narra- tive.
Between 1846, the year following the first Ameri- can settlements on Puget Sound, and 1848, popula- tion did not much increase, nor was there any com- merce to speak of with the outside world until the autumn of the last-named year, when the settlers discarded their shingle-making and their insignificant trade at Fort Nisqually, to open with their ox-teams a wagon road to the mines on the American River. The new movement revolutionized affairs. Not only was the precious dust now to be found in gratifying bulk in many odd receptacles never intended for such use in the cabins of squatters, but money, real hard coin, became once more familiar to fingers that had nearly forgotten the touch of the precious metals. In January 1850, some returning miners reached the Sound in the first American vessel entering those wa- ters for the purposes of trade, and owned by a com- pany of four of them.6 This was the beginning of trade on Puget Sound, which had increased consider- ably in 1852-3, owing to the demand for lumber in San Francisco. The towns of Olympia, Steilacoom, Alki, Seattle, and Port Townsend already enjoyed some of the advantages of commerce, though yet in their infancy. A town had been started on Baker Bay, which, however, had but a brief existence, and settlements had been made on Shoalwater Bay and Gray Harbor, as well as on the principal rivers enter- ing them, and at Cowlitz Landing. At the Cascades of the Columbia a town was surveyed in 1850, and
ing, besides a history of the scientific work of the coast survey, many original scraps of history, biography, and anecdotes of persons met with in the early years of the service, both in Oregon and California. Published entire it would be read with interest. It is often a source of regret that the limits of my work, extended as it is, preclude the possibility of extracting all that is tempting in my manuscripts.
6 See Hist. Wash., this series.
251
POPULATION.
trading establishments located at the upper and lower falls; and in fact, the map of that portion of Oregon north of the Columbia had marked upon it in the spring of 1852 nearly every important point which is seen there to-day.
Of the general condition of the country south of the Columbia at the period of the division, something may be here said, as I shall not again refer to it in a par- ticular manner. The population, before the addition of the large immigration of 1852, was about twenty thousand, most of whom were scattered over the Willamette Valley upon farms. The rage for laying out towns, which was at its height from 1850 to 1853, had a tendency to retard the growth of any one of them.7 Oregon City, the oldest in the terri- tory, had not much over one thousand inhabitants. Portland, by reason of its advantages for unloading shipping, had double that number. The other towns, Milwaukie, Salem, Corvallis, Albany, Eugene, Lafay- ette, Dayton, and Hillsboro, and the newer ones in the southern valleys, could none of them count a thousand.
7 Joel Palmer bought the claim of Andrew Smith, and founded the town of Dayton about 1850. Lafayette was the property of Joel Perkins, Cor- vallis of J. C. Avery, Albany of the Monteith brothers, Eugene of Eugene Skinner, Canyonville of Jesse Roberts, who sold it to Marks, Sideman & Co., who laid it out for a town.
8 A town called Milwaukie was surveyed on the claim of Lot Whitcomb. It contained 500 inhabitants in the autumn of 1850, more than it had thirty years later. Or. Spectator, Nov. 28, 1850. Deady, in Overland Monthly, i. 37. Oswego, on the west bank of the Willamette, later famous for its iron-works, was laid out about the same time, but never had the population of Milwaukie, of which it was the rival. Dallas, in Polk county, was founded in 1852. St Helen, on the Columbia, was competing for the advantage of being the seaport of Oregon, and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company had decreed that so it should be, when the remonstrances, if not the sinister acts, of Portland men effected the ruin of ambitious hopes. St Helen was on the land claim of H. M. Knighton, an immigrant of 1845, and had an excellent situation. Weed's Queen Charlotte Isl. Exp., MS., 7. 'Milton and St Helen, one and a half miles apart, on the Columbia, had each 20 or 25 houses .. .. Gray, a Dane, was the chief founder of St Helen.' Saint-Amant, Voyages en Cal. et Or., 368-9, 378. It was surveyed and marked out in lots and bloeks by P. W. Crawford, assisted by W. H. Tappan, and afterward mapped by Joseph Trutch, later of Victoria, B. C. A.road was laid out to the Tualatin plains, and a railroad projected; the steamship company erected a wharf with other improvements. But meetings were held in Portland to prevent the
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SURVEYS AND TOWN-MAKING.
Some ambitious persons attempted to get a county organization for the country east of the Cascade Mountains in the winter of 1852-3, to which the leg-
stopping of the steamers below that town, and successive fires destroyed the company's improvements at St Helen, compelling their vessels to go to the former place.
Milton, another candidate for favor, was situated on Scappoose Bay, an arm of the Willamette, just above St Helen. It was founded by sea cap- tains Nathan Crosby and Thomas H. Smith, who purchased the Hunsaker mills on Milton Creek, where they made Inmber to load the bark Louisiana, which they owned. They also opened a store there, and assisted in building the road to the Tualatin plains. Several sea-going men invested in lots, and business for a time was brisk. But all their brilliant hopes were destined to destruction, for there came a summer flood which swept the town away. Captains Drew, Menzies, Pope, and Williams were interested in Milton. Crawford's Nar., MS., 223. Among the settlers in the vicinity of St Helen and Milton was Capt. F. A. Lemont, of Bath, Maine, who as a sailor accom- panied Capt. Dominis when he entered the Columbia in 1829-30. He was after- ward on Wyeth's vessel, the May Dacre, which was in the river in 1834. Re- turning to Oregon after having been master of several vessels, he settled at St Helen in 1850, where he still resides. Of the early residents Lemont has furnished me the following list from memory: Benjamin Durell, Witherell, W. H. Tappan, Joseph Trutch, John Trutch, L. C. Gray, Aaron Broyles, James G. Hunter, Dr Adlum, Hiram Field, Seth Pope, John Dodge, George Thing, William English, William Hazard, Benjamin Teal, B. Conley, William Mecker, Charles H. Reed, Joseph Caples, Joseph Cunningham, A. E. Clark, Robert Germain, G. W. Veasie, C. Carpenter, J. Carpenter, Lockwood, Lit- tle, Tripp, Berry, Dunn, Burrows, Fiske, Layton, Kearns, Holly, Maybee, Archilles, Cortland, and Atwood, with others. Knighton, the owner of St Helen, is pronounced by Crawford a 'presumptuous man,' because while knowing nothing about navigation, as Crawford affirms, he undertook to pilot the Silvie de Grasse to Astoria, running her upon the rock where she was spitted. He subsequently sailed a vessel to China, and finally engaged as a captain on the Willamette. Knighton died at The Dalles about 1864. His wife was Elizabeth Martin of Yamhill county. He left several children in Washington.
Westport, on the Columbia, thirty miles above Astoria, was settled by Johu West in 1851; and Rainier, opposite the Cowlitz, by Charles E. Fox in the same year. It served for several years as a distributing point for mail and passengers to and from Puget Sound. Frank Warren, A. Harper and brother, and William C. Moody were among the residents at Rainier. Craw- ford's Nar., MS., 260. At or near The Dalles there had been a solitary set- tler ever since the close of the Cayuse war; and also a settler named Tomlin- son, and two Frenchmen on farms in Tygh Valley, fifty miles or more south of The Dalles. These pioneers of eastern Oregon, after the missionaries, made money as well as a good living, by trading in cattle and horses with emi- grants and Indians, which they sold to the miners in California. After the establishment of a military post at The Dalles, it required a government license, issued by the sup. of Indian affairs, to trade anywhere above the Cascades, and a special permission from the commander of the post to trade at this point. John C. Bell of Salem was the first trader at The Dalles, as he was sutler for the army at The Dalles in 1850. When the rifle regiment were ordered away, Bell sold to William Gibson, who then became sutler. In 1851 A. Mckinlay & Co., of Oregon City, obtained permission to estab- lish a trading post at The Dalles, and building a cabin they placed it in charge of Perrin Whitman. In 1832, they erected a frame building west of tbe present Umatilla House, which they used as a store, hnt sold the follow- ing year to Simms and Humason. W. C. Laughlin took a land claim this
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COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
islature would have consented if they had agreed to have the new county attached to Clarke for judicial purposes; but this being objected to, and the popula- tion being scarce, the legislature declined to create the county, which was however established in Janu- ary 1854, and called Wasco.9 In the matter of other county organizations south of the Columbia, the leg- islature was ready to grant all petitions if not to an- ticipate them. In 1852-3 it created Jackson, includ-
year and built a honse upon it. A Mr Bigelow brought a small stock of goods to The Dalles, chiefly groceries and liquors, and built a store the fol- lowing year; and William Gibson moved his store from the garrison grounds to the town outside. It was subsequently purchased by Victor Trevitt, who kept a saloon called the Mount Hood.
In the autumn of 1852, companies K and I of the 4th inf. reg., under Capt. Alvord, relieved the little squad of artillery men who had garrisoned the post since the departure of the rifle regiment. It was the post which formed the nucleus of trade and business at The Dalles, and which made it necessary to improve the means of transportation, that the government sup- plies might be more easily and rapidly conveyed. The immigration of 1852 were not blind to the advantages of the location, and a number of claims were taken on the small streams in the neighborhood of The Dalles. Ru- mors of gold discoveries in the Cascade Mountains north of the Columbia River were current about this time. H. P. Isaacs of Walla Walla, who is the author of an intelligent account of the development of eastern Oregon and Washington, entitled The Upper Columbia Basin, MS., relates that a Klikitat found and gave to a Frenchman a piece of gold quartz, which being exhibited at Oregon City induced him to go with the Indian in the spring of 1853 to look for it. But the Klikitat either could not or would not find the place, and Isaacs went to trade with the immigrants at Fort Boisé, putting a ferry across Snake River in the summer of that year, but returning to The Dalles, where he remained until 1863, when he removed to the Walla Walla Valley and put up a grist mill, and assisted in various ways to improve that section. Isaacs married a daughter of James Fulton of The Dalles, of whom I have already made mention. A store was kept in The Dalles by L. J. Henderson and Shang, in a canvas house. They built a log house the next year. Tompkins opened a hotel in a building put up by Mckinlay & Co. Forman built a blacksmith shop, and Lieut. Forsyth erected a two- story frame house, which was occupied the next year as a hotel by Gates. Cushing and Low soon put up another log store, and James McAuliff a third. Dalles Mountaineer, May 28, 1869.
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